Only weeks away from launch, New York City's "Taxi of Tomorrow" program has been rejected by the state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the court ruled that the "Taxi of Tomorrow" program was an "overreach" of authority.

"Simply stated, the power to contract and compel medallion owners to purchase the Nissan NV200 from Nissan for ten years does not exist in the City Charter," Justice Shlomo Hagler wrote in his decision.

Earlier this year, taxi magnate Evgeny Freidman and the Greater New York Taxi Association filed a lawsuit against New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) in an effort to put a stop to the program, which would require most new taxis to be the Nissan NV200.

The "Taxi of Tomorrow" program was first outlined in 2007 and announced in 2011. It aimed to replace the old Crown Victoria taxis with greener, more convenient versions. The Nissan NV200 took first place, and manufacturing began in Mexico in August 2013.

The program rules requiring most new taxis to be the Nissan NV200 was to take effect on October 28, but the latest ruling is throwing a wrench into those plans.

"We believe the Court's decision is fundamentally wrong, and we intend to appeal immediately," said Michael A. Cardozo, NYC's corporation counsel. "It was well within the TLC's authority to authorize the Taxi of Tomorrow."

Nissan's contract with TLC would allow it to get design and production costs back if the project is cancelled by the city, and the automaker estimated those costs at about $50 million.

"We are disappointed in the court's decision, but it will not prevent our plan to start upgrading the NYC taxi fleet with the Nissan Taxi of Tomorrow at the end of the month," said a Nissan spokesperson.

It's one thing to specify a particular model for your own contract with your own money, but it's quite another to specify a model for somebody else to buy and operate. Definitely an overreach of power and ripe for abuse when you make decisions for somebody else's money.

But... but... now they have to pay back Nissan for development costs, AND they won't get the rest of the kickbacks they were promised over the next 10 years! Besides, what's a little abuse of power and lawbreaking, they do it all the time.

Certainly. What they should have done was tailor a specific set of regulations governing new taxi purchases, ie. emissions standards, engine displacement, vehicle weight, cargo volume, passenger volume, etc. They simply mandate that all taxi purchases from date xx/xx must comply with the new regs or you will lose your operator license. Then the market decides whether the Nissan is the best one, or the Prius, or the Jeep Wrangler, or whatever.

"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA